A worthy ancestor
The world is out of joint and Immanuel Wallerstein, one of its great public intellectuals, has left us—albeit with tools to battle the dying kicks of capitalism.
Culture
The identity politics of wax print
A new film by Aiwan Obinyan explores the origins and "ownership" of a now-famous cloth.
James Barnor, ever young
Riason Naidoo talks to the curator and editor of a book and traveling exhibition about the work of the legendary, 90 year-old Ghanaian photographer.
Rugby and rainbows
Reflecting on white joy, black celebration, and the meaning of the Springbok win at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Can an American TV sitcom get anything ‘right’ about Nigerians?
After having a heart attack, a white American falls in love with his Nigerian nurse in the CBS TV sitcom, Bob Hearts Abishola. It is also about Nigerian-Americans’ visibility on mainstream US television.
Why, despite it all, I’m still a fan of the Springboks
We should not let the achievements of a multiracial Springbok rugby team, led by its first black captain, be commodified and commercialized in the service of neoliberalism.
Cold sweats and furtive listening in Angola
Historian Marissa Moorman wrote an important book about radio and modern state power.
Chester Williams: pioneer of excellence
The late Springbok rugby wing's legacy needs to be sustained, and the hope that he represented is perhaps more critical than ever.
In praise of disruption
A conversation with the founding editor of Bakwa Magazine—created to amplify new writing from Cameroon and from the African diaspora.
What kind of ancestor do you want to become?
Medical anthropologist Julie Livingston argues that the conditions of capitalist modernity in which we live are not sustainable and are leading to increased rather than lessened inequality.
The imperial legacy in scholarship
What censorship about articles in a French journal tells us about the state of France-Africa relations, imperial legacies and the impact these have on the production of knowledge about Francophone Africa.
Cape Verde’s culture of recalcitrance
The island nation's celebrated political system was never a gift bestowed, but seized through sheer agency and hard-fought autonomy.
Reading John Mbiti from Uganda
The late Mbiti is praised for indigenizing Christianity. However, his veneration of "African" tradition also served as theological justification for authoritarian rule.
The voice of the Republic’s forgotten
The film BACK UP! and important conversations about state violence, racism, global imperialism, and, crucially, the internal workings of social movements.
“Converting Eviction”
A reflection—by one of the group’s artists—on a Swiss-South African art project exploring eviction and extraction.
The reading habits of Ngugi wa Thiong’o
In the wake of yet another Ngugi wa Thiong’o snub by the Nobel Committee, we are at a loss. Perhaps a reconsideration of the author’s body of work can provide insight.
Are you safe? Please stay safe
The statistics and scenes of violence against black immigrants in South Africa are horrible. A young Cameroonian student in South Africa writes about what it is like to live under such insecurity.
The resistance music of the Ugandan people
The pop star turned Member of Parliament, Bobi Wine, is only the latest in a long line of music-as-politics in Uganda.
Multimodal memories
Exile and memory from East Africa to the United Kingdom and back again.
A particular kind of black man
The Nigerian-American writer, Tope Folarin, wrestles with blackness and black immigrant identity in his new novel.